Missing Man
by Abbsie
Summary: When the Doctor, Amy and Rory land on an unknown planet, with an air supply that can kill a Time Lord, the Doctor panics and wonders why he's never seen this before. And then when he vanishes in front of their eyes, can his two human companions get him back and themselves back to earth?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One- The Unknown.**

_Earlier;_

When the big blue box landed in the middle of an unknown planet, the Doctor was immediately wary because he was the oldest thing in Time and Space. He knew every planet, every star, and every civilisation and yet the TARDIS had spun out of control and crash landed on to a barren landscape where the air always smelt smoky and the stars here were a bright green, even the day against the dark brown sky.  
He would not admit it to his two travelling companions but this made his hands tremble so when he held his trusty Sonic Screwdriver in his hand, he couldn't get an accurate reading.  
He heard the giggling and the shuffling of feet before his two friends stepped through the small open door of the TARDIS and came to stand next to him; eyes wide with wonder, mouths slack. As much as the Doctor tried to deny it, this world was more beautiful and startlingly unique than the other planets he had _purposely_ landed on.

"So, Doc" Amy began, using the nickname that really grated on his nerves, he didn't like it and she knew this, which was the reason why carried on calling him the idiotic pet name, "where are we tonight?" She asked her eyes wide with expectation as her and Rory waited for the explanation that would have the Doctor twirling and dipping and spinning like the most uncoordinated dancer you would ever see.  
But he didn't, his feet stayed planted on the ground; which was soft, _really_ soft under their feet and it was a dark blue colour. Not like the TARDIS which was a Royal and graceful deep blue that caught the eye of all monsters and aliens. But like the bottom of the ocean; dark and murky and holding secrets that everyone wanted to know.  
The Doctor surveyed the area around him, looking for any sign that people actually lived here but the only things he saw were chutes with small holes at the bottom; they were made from what looked like mud and the holes were big enough to crawl through.  
"Doctor?" Rory asked quietly, his male Nurse voice coming out as if not to startle the Timelord in front of him. The Doctor peered at Rory from the corner of his eyes and then looked at Amy, her smile had faltered and her eyes were small and worried.  
"I've not been here before" he said for explanation, praying that it would be enough to erase the looks etched on their faces; humans had too many emotions and the Doctor couldn't keep up.

Amy, being the great companion she was, nodded and then clasped Rory's hand tightly in her own and then took the Doctor's in her other hand. Rory tried to hide the flash of jealousy that flitted through him before he gathered himself and waited for instructions.  
"Well then" Amy started, walking off towards one of the chutes, one of the bigger ones, "I think we should go exploring."

They reached the chute and all three stared upwards as they realised how small they were compared to it; the small hole was actually almost up to their waists, so pretty big.  
"So, who's first?" The Doctor chirped having regained his normal eccentric composure and bounced back onto the balls of his feet whilst at the same time taking a big step back from the dark hole; just because he was a Timelord, doesn't mean big giant dark holes weren't absolutely terrifying to him.  
Amy snorted and stepped forward, releasing her tight grip on Rory's hand, showing that she herself was actually nervous but hiding it extremely well. She shook out her limbs like she was preparing for a race but then crouched down in front of the dark hole and peered in.  
"I can't see a damn thing" she called back; her voice echoing slightly as she leaned in more.  
Rory shrugged and then stopped, staring at the ground as did the Doctor whilst Amy stared down into the darkness. The ground had started to shake; all three of them could feel it running through their bodies, in every one of their bones.  
"What the-" but Rory could not finish the end of his sentence for his wife let out a piercing scream before tumbling down into the darkness, her feet disappearing before any of the men could even more to help.  
And then there was stillness and there was silence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2- Down the Hole.**

Rory didn't think, Rory just acted on impulse and that impulse told him to lunge towards the hole where his wife had just fallen down. Unfortunately for him, the Doctor wasn't exactly the quickest alien around and just as he started to pay attention, Rory's feet were also gone.  
"For the love God" he muttered as he then moved closer to the hole and used the sonic on it, the inside lit up blue and the Doctor could see that the inside was different from the outside, it looked like metal. Leaning to the side, he licked a small portion and nodded, confirming his thoughts that the metal was also something he didn't know.  
He was beginning to really hate not knowing; he felt almost _human_. A thought that made his two hearts skip a beat and he shuddered.  
"Ponds!" He called down, his voice echoing like Amy's had earlier and he listened intently for any sign of Mr and Mrs Pond. After what seemed like far too long, he heard a soft noise, too soft for him to make it out. "Amy!? Rory!?" He yelled, much louder and as his voiced bounced off the metal all the way down to the bottom, the ground started to vibrate again.  
Luckily, the Doctor had the sense to hold onto the edge of the chute and keep the grip until the vibrations had subsided. He sighed and dusted himself off and straightened his precious bowtie.  
"Doctor!" Amy called, her voice sounding thin from all the way down the dark chute. "You need to come down here!"  
The madman glanced down into the darkness and wondered how mad he truly was; voluntarily going down _that_ seemed like a death which and that was coming from a nine hundred and five year old Alien.  
"Hey, space man, come on!" And that voice was Rory and the Doctor let out a sigh of relief now that he knew they were both unharmed; nothing worse than having fatally injured humans messing up the interior of your TARDIS.  
"Now is that really necessary?" He called back, his legs dangling over the side and he knew he would jump down there, to his friends; he was their protector because if one of them was hurt, the other would clump him round the head, most likely with a blunt object.  
"Yes!" They both chorused and even the Doctor laughed at that before he pushed himself forward and felt the ground disappear from underneath him and then he was falling, endlessly falling and it was hard not to let out a little noise of fright.  
And the he wasn't falling.  
The Doctor was _floating_.

Literally floating; he was facing the floor with all his limbs spread out, he could smell the unknown dirty but just knew it was actual dirt.  
And then he fell straight onto said dirt, is face landing with a thud.  
"Ow" he moaned, rolling onto his back and rubbing his head and stared up at the small patch of light that shone a small oval light at the top of the chute. It was a really long way up.  
Then Amy's face appeared above him, all smiles and dimples and red hair falling everywhere with dirt smudged on her left cheek and her neck. Then Rory added his face to the picture and the Doctor noticed that he was less composed as Amy; his hair was array and he was covered in dirt.  
"How cool is that?!" Amy yelped excitedly, and held out a hand for the Timelord to take and she hauled him up into sitting position. A wave of nausea washed over him and it was hard to keep everything contained. "Yeah, ya feel sick for about a minute afterwards but, I mean, cool!"  
Then Amy jumped up and bent her knees so her legs were higher off the ground and then she straightened them out and...hovered. The air between her feet and the floor was a shimmering purple and the Doctor reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out his Sonic, it was already whirling by the time it hit the shimmering veil.  
And then he read the readings and his face paled and his blood ran cold and his two hearts dropped a beat.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three- Mud and Dirt.**

"So the good news is," the Doctor started, standing straight up and making sure his bow tie was in order, "we're still alive, isn't it? Humans are still alive; I think I did well on that part." He was stalling and Amy and Rory knew it, they knew this because of the way his alien face had completely fallen when he'd glanced at his sonic readings.

"And the bad news?" Amy asked, folding her arms over her chest and waiting impatiently for what news the Doctor had. Rory, ever faithful, looked at her face then down to her arms and copied the movement, looking more feminine then intimidating.

"Who said there was bad news?" The madman spoke, spinning on his heels and heading down one of two dark mud corridors, taking his fancy at this one for no particular reason, he just chose.

"Why are we going down this one? There's another perfectly nice-and-not-at-all creepy looking corridor" Rory called from where he was, still hovering at the entrance of one creepy looking corridor, or passageway, the Doctor wasn't yet sure what they were dealing with but they had to get out, that's all new knew.

"I don't know, I just chose and seeing as we're all this way, hurry up!" He almost barked, not wanting to snap at the poor human but losing his patience with each breath, along with his life.  
What the humans failed to realised, and would never know, was that the air, or something in the air in this place was fatal to a Timelord; it consisted of Hybisas energy and something else that was far too long for a human to even have a hope of understanding.

"Aliens, so temperamental" The Doctor heard Amy mutter and he was close to spinning around and shouting that he wasn't just trying to save both their lives but his own as well. For, if he died, then they would be stranded on a planet that no-one knew anything about.

As it was, he couldn't stop a little snip at them both.  
"Fine, you want to know the bad news, Pond? Because it _is_ bad, it is very very bad and you will not like it, Ponds. Both of you, not one little bit. The air we are breathing, inhaling each little human second is _deadly_. Okay, you understand now? Not to you, Amy, or even you Rory but to me, a Timelord. I am trying to get myself out of here as well as you two because if I die, what on Earth are you two going to do?"

It was the longest tyrant the Doctor had been on in a long while and he took a deep, shaky breath in and let it out in an exasperated sigh before turning on his heel and marching away.

And walking straight into another version of the purple shimmering field that stopped long fields; but this one was instead covering an exit and when the Doctor looked at each of the sides, he could see that he was at a dead of shimmering purple.  
"Doctor!" Amy yelled and her voice was high with panic that despite his annoyance, he turned around and met her frightened big eyes, which were a strange colour, all of her was and all of everything was.  
It was turning into the shame shimmering purple because the corridor he had just stomped down was now getting blocked off until he was trapped alone in a box of mud and dirt.

He could see Amy and Rory yelling as they ran to him, but he couldn't hear anything but quiet muffles.

"Sound proof. Smart aliens" he muttered and tried to think of how to get his message across to his companions. "TARDIS" he mouthed once and when neither of them understood he yelled it, twice but it was no good.

So, in typical Doctor fashion, he pointed over their shoulders repeatedly until they both glanced back and he knew they could the faint light that was the precious TARDIS and then turned on his Sonic and held it above his head, pointing to the mud ceiling.  
This was the only way he could think of to convey the message that he wanted to get their backsides back into the TARDIS.

Surprisingly, it was Mr Pond who understood the vague message fast and nodded to the Doctor gravely, looking at Amy with a pained look. She had both hands splayed out on the shimmering purple and the Doctor raised one hand to match hers, spreading his fingers wide to meet hers.

With a start, he realised it start to touch it and he could now see the pain in Amy's eyes but she didn't move and for that he was grateful, it was not like the Doctor to wish he was somewhere else this much.

He then pulled down his hand, looked around and noticed an air vent carved into one side as he stepped up to peer into he, he could smell something musky and then a smoke like substance started to stream out faintly. It was a form of knock out gas.

He spun to Rory and mouthed 'look after her' and shooed them both away with two quick hand gestures. Rory had to forcefully pull Amy away and then they were jus retreating figures.  
The air was getting cloudy and the Doctor was getting tired.

That was when he fainted.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four- Back to the Start**

This was how Amy and Rory had ended up alone in the TARDIS for one week; they hadn't moved from the mysterious planet but stowed away inside the TARDIS; not daring to even peek outside.  
The mud interior of the corridors was all Amy could see on the TARDIS monitor; dirt and mud and nothing else. It was starting to become annoying because Amy was tired of the same picture every hour, of every day.  
She was tired of missing the Doctor, she was tired of the stupid food that was stocked almost everywhere in the TARDIS; Rory had even found a few tins in floating in the swimming pool.

"Amy" Rory loudly whispered, and she raised her brow but walked on over to where he was peering intently at the monitor, his jaw slack with what she thought was wonder and fright and the same time.

"What?" She asked, louder than him but stopped as soon as she was close enough to look over his shoulder. Because on the screen where it was previously just mud, there was no something moving in the darkness, just a shadow, a medium sized figure that stood right in front of the TARDIS.

"Can they see us?" Rory asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked from the monitor to the doors; Amy was wondering the exact same thing.

"I don't know" she responded honestly, what's the point in trying to hide the truth now, no matter how terrifying? "I wouldn't think so, look, you can tell it's facing away from us." You could see the shape of broad shoulders and the turn of its head, looking down the corridor, seemingly waiting for something. Or someone.

"What do we do?" Rory asked; constantly asking questions that Amy had no answers to so she just shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I think going out of those doors is out of the question" he replied with a grimace on his young, human face.

"What, why?!" Amy half shrieked at her husband, planting her hands on her hips and staring at him. "That _thing_ is the first movement we have seen for seven days, Rory. If we have a chance to find the Doctor and get out of here, I'm pretty sure taking it is splendid idea."

So for ten minutes, husband and wife argued back and forth with remarks about what they should do, bitter quips that would cause more trouble if not resolved.  
Well, that was until Amy marched past Rory and shrugged on her brown leather jacket and pulled on her almost knee high boots, pulling her hair into a tight pony tail to keep it out of the way and stared at her husband.

"I am going Rory, with or without you."

And Rory Pond knew that his wife was being deadly serious, she had her arms folded roughly over her chest and her head was cocked to one side; her lips set in a determined line. Reluctantly, Rory grabbed his own jacket and followed Amy like a lost puppy.

"Fine" he grumbled, none too happy about this.

It was now or never.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five- Little Men & Peace.**

When Amy silently opened one of the TARDIS doors; she looked confused for one second before realisation hit her. On the monitor, the figure outside had looked the size of a regular human being but when Amy looked for the thing, she had to look to the floor and stifle a giggle; he barely reached above her knees.

She motioned for Rory to step out and lock the door behind him; he stood to the side of her, just a little behind and stared wide eyed at the little man, or woman, in front of them. He was muttering something under his breath and Amy was shocked to realise that it was English; human words that if she bent close enough, she could probably here.  
And just as she was about to do so, the little thing started to hobble forward slowly, their little feet barely making a sound against the rough mud floor.

Motioning with her hand, Amy crept forward to; one wide step from the humans equalled at least five small steps from the little thing. _Blip_, Amy thought, _I'll call him Blip._ And then they were following Blip down the corridor and unlike before when the end held nowhere else to go, the back wall was now gone and it was more darkness.

"Come on, faster" Amy mouthed as they kept a safe distance from Blip but hurried to get through the new found doorway. And then, once they were through, they stopped in their tracks and their mouths gaped wide open.

It was a city; a big city that was made of mud and stones; there were towers and mud houses and even buildings that looked like shops; there was a dim green glow covering the whole thing and Amy could see that there were holes in the ceiling where the stars shone down.  
More little Blip's were mulling around, running and laughing and just sitting on mud stools; what Rory found my intriguing were the children; because he could surely tell that the girl he was looking at was indeed a child, she had the baby face and the child clothes but she was the same size as the adult they had followed.

"Everyone is the same size" he whispered, almost inaudible to Amy who had crouched down behind at little bump in the mud and was peering subtly over the edge; her eyes fixed on everything below her. She was also looking for a way down and as she turned her head and stood up a little, something in the alien air made her want to sneeze, very very badly.

And she did.

The little Blip that they had followed to their vantage point spun around on his very tiny heels and glared at them with his very tiny bright blue eyes; a sight that even made Rory gasped because the startling colour was such a contrast against the dull brown that smothered everything.

From the front, it was clear that Blip was a male and a very angry one too; he pressed something on his shoulder and shrill sounded echoed throughout the whole place; Amy and Rory had to cover their ears but it did nothing to stop the piercing sound.

"We come in peace!" Was the first coherent sentence that popped into Amy Pond's head, the others were all along the line of curses and wishing the sound would stop but it didn't and Amy didn't know if it got louder or if her mind was just playing cruel tricks on her.

He muttered something was certainly not any language that Amy knew of and her and Rory stood stock still side by side as they waited for their fate.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six- Alive & Dead.**

The little man pointed a gun at the two strange beings in front of him; it was a new gun that he hadn't actually used before but all he knew was that it was dangerous and to pull the little flicker part to make the power work and shoot something green out of it.

He placed an expression of what was hopefully anger and intimidation onto his face, he needed the beings to be afraid of him because then it would please his...boss. Yes, that was the word he needed. He little man was still getting used to thinking and speaking in this foreign language called English; though these two beings, _humans,_ were fluent in it.

He held the gun higher so it was over his head and pointed at their heads, their frightened faces stared back at him and he felt an emotion run through him quickly, in human terms, it was called pity. They looked helpless even though they were much taller and stronger than the small man, though he would never disclose this to them, let alone anyone.

It was in their face, the Gablins, to feign strength and bravery to get what they wanted, they played tricks and they were cruel but they didn't kill; they rarely ever killed another species unless there was absolutely no alternative.

"Follow" he spat out and he punched another button on his clothing and the alarm stopped and the humans looked around them, realising that ten more Gablins had gathered at their feet unnoticed. It was another skill their race possessed; stealth.

Then he turned and started to strode off, not bothering to look behind him to see if the beings were still there, he knew they would be; one reason being that they had no choice because of the armed men behind them and the second reason because he could almost see how curious they were. He also knew that they were linked to the two hearted man they had captured one week ago; the strange man constantly talked about his two pet beings.

"You know man, tall with funny clothes" the Gablin said, and that's when he glanced over to see the female being focusing her sharp gaze on his tiny figure.

"What do you know, Blip?" She asked, and the Gablin twisted round to stare up at her; one furry brow raised in confusion. "Blip, it's what I named you" the female said, her tone making it sound like it was an everyday thing.

_Maybe it was_ the Gablin thought, _on their planet; it is full of stranger names for everything; they had so many different objects on one tiny planet. What was wrong with just a few simple terms that even the young would learn straight away?_

With a jolt, the Gablin- Blip- realised he was thinking entirely in their native tongue now like it was his own and this displeased him; for him it was easy to master but difficult to understand every meaning for every word because one word can have several or more meanings and it was confusing to most Gablins.

But then he remember the strange, funny clothed man and how the young ones would sit down, with their tiny legs crossed at stare up at him as he spoke magical things about planets that most Gablins had heard of and some they had not.

His words rang through the air like he was a royal and they were his subjects and then Blip made a noise that the humans would call a _snort_ and banned that though from his powerful mind; they were no royals, the Gablins were the higher species here.

The strange man and his two pet beings would bow down and listen to them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven- Mr Teacher.**

Amy, Rory, the little trail of Blips and the leader Blip were scurrying quickly down what Amy decided were their roads, how they got around. Passing a number of huts, Amy couldn't help but peer into some of them, they had no glass windows but most of the huts had some fabric or metal covering the entire gap in the walls, a makeshift curtain.

Amy and Rory were holding hands, a little bit too tight for Rory but he figured it probably wasn't the best time to mention his wife's surprising strength. Although they could see where they were going, it was dark and it stank; of stale air and mud and something else neither of the companions could recognise.

"Your alien friend- he calls himself the Doctor, but when we tried to place him in our medical centre, he refused. Why is this?" Blip asked as he walked down many roads and alleyways, Amy didn't know how he knew where he was going, everything looked exactly the same to her.

"He's just the Doctor" was the only explanation that she could give and he seemed to take it because he asked no further questions until they were at a really big mud building, a castle Amy though, a kingdom.

"He is a teacher on our planet; he fears for his safety, I will take you to him."

An hour or so later, they walked through two big doors and there, sitting in the corner of the room with what looked like a fish bowl on his head, was their raggedy Doctor, looking as chipper as ever with a huge smile on his face.

"Ponds!" He called, his voice muffled from the contraption on his face. "Welcome back to civilisation!"

"Doctor!" Amy roared and leapt straight into the arms of the Timelord, unable to help herself because she had missed him. Rory walked over and once Amy had released the man, he had given him a one armed awkward hug. "What happened?" Amy demanded.

"Well, what you saw happen to me wasn't actually something bad. These tunnels are actually equipped with some sort of system that recognised life forms; now whilst it didn't know me, it did know that I was in danger from their air, and that's why they trapped me. The next thing I know, I'm waking up with a bowl on my head and my bowtie all messed up."

Amy scoffed at the fact that the Doctor sounded more annoyed about the bowtie than anything else; she looked around herself to see that this place had chairs, actual wooden chairs and tables and lights, even a rug!

"Whoa, 60 Minute Maker Over or what?" Amy said, wandering over and sitting on one of the wooden chairs, sighing in comfort as she sank down on the cushion.

"They harvest from broken down ships; this is a dump planet where broken and non-repairable ships are taken, or just float into it. You'll see once we go lower that it's much better than here, not as much mud, but much more cleaner. I teach now!" The Doctor exclaimed, flicking his head- and the bowl- to the side to flick his uncontrollable fringe out of his eyes. "Their children will grow up to learn about all the planets the crashed ships have come from so I'm teaching them about the planets that aren't going to come across that much, or ever."

Rory was now listening intently to the Doctor and he suddenly felt like one of the school children he was talking about. All Rory wanted to do right now was to go back into the TARDIS and get away from all this mud; it was starting to drive him crazy.

"So, when can we leave?" Amy asked, voicing Rory's thoughts in that spooky way she had and Rory smiled at lovingly, not like she saw it, Amy was inspecting her mud covered nails with a grimace on her pale face.

"We can't!" The Doctor announced happily, a huge smile on his face as he rocked back and forth on his heels and pinged gently at his braces. "Well, no, that was a lie. We can!" He said this time, swiping away some dust from his fish bowl helmet. "After we help them build a ship and find them a new planet. Easy peasy!"

Amy groaned, Rory sighed and the Doctor just grinned and continued the rocking motion.


End file.
